Our Grants

BasBlue’s mission is to create pathways and open doors for women and non-binary individuals by fostering connection and discovery through a diverse and inclusive community, educational opportunities, and culturally enriching experiences. Our grant supports the creation of youth programs in Southeast Michigan high schools that offer mentorship, scholarship opportunities, leadership, and career development to ensure that these students have access to the social capital and skills they need as they define their own pathways to success and economic opportunity.

Black Leaders Detroit seeks to address disparities by offering what has been missing: financial support. Recognizing that Detroiters of African descent have always been rich in creativity, effective economic strategies, entrepreneurial spirit, and innovative business models, our grant will enhance Black Leaders Detroit’s operational capabilities to meet the increasing demand for services, supporting regional Black-owned businesses and emerging entrepreneurs.

Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) offers individuals just coming home from prison the ongoing support necessary to build career capital and financial stability. Our grant supports CEO’s work in Southeast Michigan that benefits justice-impacted individuals, using its scale, experience, and data to change the way government invests in criminal justice and workforce development.

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce partners with government, business, education, and community leaders to cultivate good jobs and the skilled workers to fill them. Our grant enables the organization’s efforts to develop Southeast Michigan’s regional workforce system staff and leadership capacity.

Smart Factory Believers, powered by a Deloitte-led ecosystem, has a mission to empower STEM education opportunities in historically marginalized communities to inspire and build the manufacturing workforce of tomorrow. Our grant supports closing STEM equity gaps in Southeast Michigan by providing robotics kits, resources, and skills training needed to design, code, and build for the future.

Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation is the workforce agency for the city of Detroit, working in cross-sector collaboration to increase work-based learning opportunities for students and adults. Our grant supports the Grow Detroit’s Young Talent summer initiative, ensuring that 8,000 Detroit youth and young adults have meaningful summer work experiences that create pathways to future opportunities.

The Detroit Regional Talent Compact is led by Detroit Drives Degrees, the Detroit Regional Chamber’s collective impact initiative that brings together business, philanthropy, government, and education to accomplish two goals: increase Detroit’s postsecondary attainment rate to 60% and reduce its racial equity gap by 50% by 2030. Our grant strengthens regional talent preparation by better-connecting students to career exposure, work-based learning, and credentials that lead to good jobs.

The Detroit Drives Degrees Community College Collaborative (D3C3) at the Detroit Regional Chamber supports the community college system in Southeast Michigan. D3C3 provides community colleges with financial resources and technical assistance to implement collaborative regional strategies to improve educational opportunities and strengthen the talent pipeline. The ultimate goal of this work is to increase postsecondary attainment in Michigan to 60% and reduce the racial equity attainment gap by half by 2030.

Equity Alliance of Michigan, formerly Danett Associates Inc., holds the profound belief that every community member deserves not only equal opportunities but also tailored resources that reflect the rich tapestry of our society. Through a variety of programming—including workforce-preparation and job-readiness offerings— the organization endeavors to break down barriers for diverse people, foster understanding, and create pathways to success for all.

Family Assistance for Renaissance Men helps fathers develop relationships with their children and assists them in securing living wage jobs for their families. Our grant supports three annual 10-week training programs that provide workforce development services, financial literacy, fatherhood responsibility training, mentoring, job placement assistance, and other related services.

Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit co-creates independence and dignity for people in the Detroit, Michigan area through the power of personal and workforce development. Our grant supports the organization to expand its Flip the Script program, which works to reduce recidivism and support the success and personal development of justice-involved people by providing life skills, education, job placement, financial coaching, and post-employment retention services.

Green Door Initiative (GDI), based in Detroit, aims to ensure that every person is environmentally literate, and capable of practicing and promoting sustainability as a lifestyle. GDI is organized into four program categories: Ensuring Environmental Justice, Environmental Technician Career Worker Training Program, Youth Speak Green and Solar. Our grant supports the expansion of GDI’s workforce initiatives including increasing the environmental technicians careers workforce development training to include clean renewable energy offerings.

Hazel Park Promise Zone and College Access Network helps to revitalize the Hazel Park, Michigan, community by offering its high school graduates a tuition-free path to an associate’s degree and providing college and career preparatory programs. Our grant helps expand coaching and mentoring programs.

Henry Ford College is a community college in Dearborn, Michigan, serving 17,000 enrolled students. Our grant expands the college’s efforts to improve student degree completion by increasing the capacity to track student trends and identify needs for intervention, as well as restructure academic advising.

One of the nation’s leading academic medical centers, Henry Ford Health (HFH), is developing a talent and education strategy to prepare and hire youth and young adults in Southeast Michigan for a wide range of high-growth healthcare careers. Our grant will support HFH in employing young people in healthcare pathway jobs, eliminating barriers to sustained career opportunities at HFH, and creating stronger pipelines from high school and college into employment—making a generational impact for families and children in Detroit.

Macomb Community College is a two-campus community college in Michigan, serving about 30,000 enrolled students. Our grant supports K-12 outreach and the expansion of programs and system-level changes to help increase enrollment, persistence, and graduation rates.

Michigan Works! Macomb/St. Clair coordinates and provides quality, comprehensive workforce development, employment, and training services to prepare job seekers for in-demand careers and help employers connect with those job seekers who have the right skills. Our grant supports the Macomb Young Professionals program to partner with school districts and provide students with mentoring, career education, and work readiness training.

Michigan College Access Network seeks to increase the percentage of Michigan residents with degrees or postsecondary certificates to 60% by 2030. Each of its statewide initiatives works to achieve at least one of four priorities: college affordability, credential completion, college-going culture, and pathways and transitions.

NAF’s unique educational design improves outcomes for students in low-resourced communities and gives businesses the opportunity to shape America’s future workforce through career academies with STEM-infused, industry-specific curricula, and work-based learning. Our grant supports NAF’s expansion efforts in the Detroit/Tri-County Area.

Oakland Community College is one of Michigan’s largest multi-campus community colleges, serving 24,000 enrolled students. Our grant helps increase postsecondary access, equity, success, and completion across Oakland County and the region.

Regents of the University of Michigan (U-M) governs U-M, upholding the university’s mission to serve the people of Michigan and the world through preeminence in creating, communicating, preserving and applying knowledge, art, and academic values, and in developing leaders and citizens who will challenge the present and enrich the future. Our grant supports the two-year placement of a fellow in the State of Michigan’s 60 by 30 Office through the University of Michigan Youth Policy Lab. The fellow will add capacity to the team, supporting the state’s work to encourage participants in the Michigan Reconnect scholarship programs to choose career pathways that align with high demand, high wage careers as identified by the Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives.

The School District of the City of Pontiac, Michigan serves the children and families of Pontiac and surrounding communities. Our grant will expand multiple career pathways that include manufacturing engineering, information technology, and biomedical sciences, providing students with technical knowledge, career skills, and hands on experiences through work based learning with local industry partners.

Schoolcraft College is a public community college in Livonia, Michigan, offering more than 130 different academic majors and programs and enrolling more than 30,000 students each year. Our grant expands mental health services, course delivery options, technology and staffing resources, and training programs to improve student success outcomes.

SER-Metro-Detroit is a vital Detroit resource, enhancing the lives of thousands across the city each year. Through a series of education, job training, and job placement programs, along with youth development and education initiatives, SER equips Detroiters with the skills, resources, and opportunities they need to achieve self-sufficiency.

Southeast Michigan Community Alliance provides innovative leadership to create an inclusive, life long talent and career development system that is responsive to labor market and industry demands and drives a resilient, vital, and competitive economy. Our grant supports increasing youth engagement by establishing intensive, community level outreach throughout Wayne County.

Energy Overflow is dedicated to bridging gaps in access to education, resources, and opportunities for communities in Southeast Michigan. Our grant launches its Automotive Innovation Hub pilot program, allowing youth to explore careers in the automotive and mechanical fields while incorporating music therapy and sound engineering, fostering skill-building, emotional wellness, and supportive pathways to vibrant careers.

Michigan Women Forward is a certified community development financial institution (CDFI) whose mission is to expand economic opportunity for women and entrepreneurs of color, empower the next generation, and honor the accomplishments of Michigan women. Our funding will help Michigan Women Forward meet a growing demand for their services.

Thrive Scholars has been supporting high achieving students of color from low income backgrounds for 20 years and offers each scholar six years of comprehensive support from high school to early career. Our grant supports Thrive Scholars in launching a new program site in Southeast Michigan and recruitment of students for its Los Angeles program.

Urban Alliance works with schools and employers to address systemic barriers to economic mobility for young adults of color and to bridge the gaps between education and workforce development for all young people. Our grant will deepen and expand equitable, inclusive career pathways for young people in and around Detroit through paid work experiences, mentorship, and professional development.